For PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, this week’s return to action after a 91-day layoff at the Charles Schwab Championship filled him with a sense of excitement.
“It’s almost like when you went away for school for the summer and then you come back in the fall, those first couple days, seeing people that you haven’t seen in a while, it’s that good feeling,” he said.
As one of the first sports to resume competition after the global pandemic brought the world to a halt, the PGA Tour had to make a series of adjustments, including restricting fans and limiting the TV crew. How did Monahan think it came together in the first week?
“I get the same feeling in my stomach as I’m watching these players compete for a PGA Tour win on Sunday,” he said. “But to not have the fan roars, to see the way players are responding when they’re making birdies and there’s not noise, I mean, that’s just all of our — that’s a new reality for all of us. But I still as an obvious fan, I feel the intensity, and I think that’s what fans are experiencing, as well.”
But Monahan and his team aren’t resting on their laurels. The Tour’s board of directors have a call scheduled on Monday.
“I’m sure there are adjustments that we’ll make,” Monahan said. “That’s a commitment that we made going into it. But I wouldn’t say — I would characterize any change that we’re making as probably slight adjustments to a plan that we feel has worked very well thus far.”
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“Kind of go over what we did well first and foremost and then see what we can adjust to make it safer, better and more comfortable for everybody going forward,” added Jordan Spieth, a player member of the Tour’s board. “From my perspective out here, certainly weird on the weekend not having fans, but everything going smoothly and no negative tests early in the week, and certainly nobody having to go take them mid-week, it’s awesome. It’s great that the bubble stayed a bubble, and now we’ve got to travel with it.”
That would be the Tour’s chartered flight to Hilton Head, South Carolina, for the RBC Heritage. And so while the early returns have been favorable for the Tour, Monahan knows that it is too soon to pat themselves on the back.
“I was asked what’s a successful week would look like. It means us getting to the RBC Heritage and having another successful week next week,” Monahan said. “I was on the phone with our team earlier today up at the RBC Heritage, and I feel very good about the setup there, and we’re ready to go again.”
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